Cassini Spacecraft Malfunction Prevents Flyby of Saturn's Moon Titan

The Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn has
suffered a malfunction that has shut down all science observations for the time
being, forcing the probe to skip an upcoming look at Saturn's largest moon
Titan, NASA announced this week.

Cassini put itself into a so-called "safe mode"
? a hibernation-like state to await commands from Earth ? after experiencing a
glitch on Tuesday (Nov. 2) at about 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT).?

While in safe mode, Cassini has been beaming updates to
Earth on its health, but it has performed no science observations of Saturn and
its many moons. [Photos:
Saturn's rings and moons]

Cassini was scheduled to take a close look at one of those moons,
Titan, when it flies by the Saturnian satellite next week. But the recent malfunction will force the Cassini to abandon the science observations during the pass.

"Engineers say it is not likely that Cassini will be
able to resume full operations before a planned Nov. 11 flyby of Saturn's
moon Titan," NASA officials said in a Thursday (Nov. 4) statement.
"But Cassini has 53 more Titan
flybys planned in its extended mission, which lasts until 2017."

Safe mode is a precautionary state spacecraft switch to
after encountering problems that cannot be solved by onboard computer commands.
This is the sixth time since its 1997 launch that the Cassini spacecraft has
slipped into safe mode, and only the second time while orbiting Saturn, NASA
officials said.

"The spacecraft responded exactly as it should have,
and I fully expect that we will get Cassini back up and running with no
problems," said Cassini program manager Bob Mitchell, of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Over the more than six years we
have been at Saturn, this is only the second safing event. So considering the
complexity of demands we have made on Cassini, the spacecraft has performed
exceptionally well for us."

Cassini has been orbiting Saturn since 2004 and released
the European-built Huygens probe to make a landing
on Titan in early 2005. Cassini completed its primary mission in 2008,
though the Saturn
flight has been extended twice since then.

The Cassini spacecraft is now expected to end its Saturn
mission in May 2017.